After all, Wei Chi's collusion with foreign enemies had been confirmed. The Southern Yan even angrily denounced Emperor Liang for breaking his promise after being utterly defeated by the King of Qin. They had agreed to fight against the King of Qin together, but now he had concentrated all his troops near the capital and was retreating in order to defend the capital.
Although these people were deliberately sent by Liancheng at Wei Hong's behest, no one else knew this. Therefore, the officials and people of Daliang only knew that Wei Chi had indeed colluded with Nan Yan, and they knew nothing else.
Supporting such an emperor is tantamount to supporting a traitor, and everyone should kill him.
After the man finished speaking, he saw that the hall was quiet for a moment, and realized that he had said something he shouldn't have. He quickly tried to make amends: "I didn't mean anything by it. I just felt that... after all, the Prince of Qin was just a vassal king, not the crown prince appointed by Emperor Gaozong. Letting him ascend the throne... would still be illegitimate."
This remark caused another uproar in the hall. The Duke of Anguo, who had been resting with his eyes closed, finally spoke in a deep voice after everyone had finished speaking.
“I remember that Your Majesty has a nephew who is three years old this year. I heard that he is very intelligent and has already begun his education.”
One sentence silenced the noisy hall once again.
Wei Chi has been on the throne for more than three years and has many concubines in his harem, but he has no children.
His elder brother, who was born out of wedlock, had two children in succession. The first one died young, and the second one just turned three this year.
No one cared whether the child was smart or not, but nowadays, when people talk about him, they definitely say he is smart!
Emperor Gaozong initially appointed the late emperor as crown prince, and the late emperor then appointed Wei Chi as crown prince. However, Wei Chi colluded with the enemy and betrayed the country, so the throne was bound to be lost.
However, if his nephew were to ascend the throne, it would mean that Emperor Gaozong's bloodline would still inherit the throne, and the royal bloodline would still be legitimate and justifiable.
If this legitimate child is also very intelligent, wouldn't it be even more natural for them to support him as emperor?
So it doesn't matter whether the child is really smart or not, as long as outsiders think he is smart.
You should know that a three-year-old child is much easier to control than the King of Qin.
"But... with the King of Qin around, this matter may not go so smoothly."
Someone whispered.
The King of Qin has won the hearts of the people and holds military power; he is now the one to whom the world's will rest.
As long as he is there, everyone will think of him as the one to become emperor. Although the three-year-old child is Wei Chi's nephew, there is still a gap between them. In fact, he was not the crown prince personally chosen by the late emperor. In this respect, the Prince of Qin is no different from him.
If they force that child to replace Wei Chi and ascend the throne in the capital, I'm afraid the people of the world will not recognize it, and it will also attract the Qin King's army.
Although the King of Qin had promised the late emperor not to attack the capital, who knew if other troops would come to fight in his place?
Duke Anguo lowered his eyes, as if he had fallen asleep again, but slowly uttered a sentence: "What if the King of Qin is no longer here?"
...
On a hill more than a hundred miles from Huaicheng, a large troop of people stopped and rested by a small river.
A tall, black horse with a white patch on its forehead was drinking water by the river. Beside it was a small, pure white dog, which was also licking the water with its head down. When it finished drinking, the fur around its mouth was wet, and it shook its head wildly.
After shaking its head, the puppy saw a man sitting on a large rock not far away, munching on dry food. It trotted over and rubbed against the man's feet.
This man was Guo Sheng, who had just found a place to rest. When he saw Xiao Ke'ai arrive, he turned his head away and ignored him, but Xiao Ke'ai rubbed against him again.
Guo Sheng frowned and shouted, "Get out! You've already eaten all the jerky for today, there's none left!"
The little cutie wasn't afraid of him at all, still sticking close to him with her big, bright eyes, waiting for him to give her some jerky.
Guo Sheng refused to give it to him, munching on his own dry rations, the two staring at each other blankly.
Guo Sheng heard the soft sound of horses' hooves behind him, but he didn't pay attention. Many of the horses in the caravan were drinking water by the river, so it was normal to have horses nearby.
But the horse was getting closer and closer to him. By the time he realized something was wrong, it was too late. Little Darling came up behind him, lowered her head, grabbed the pouch at his waist, pulled it off, and ran away!
The purse contained dried meat for the little cutie. Upon seeing this, the little cutie stopped clinging to him and ran off to chase after the little darling.
Those around who witnessed this burst into laughter. Guo Sheng's face turned red with anger as he watched helplessly as Xiao Guai Guai ran a distance before throwing the purse in front of Xiao Ke'ai, who then plunged into it and ate the jerky.
He chased after the little cutie and picked up the pouch, but it was too late; the little cutie had already snatched several pieces of the jerky inside.
Guo Sheng was furious at being teased by a dog and a horse. He made a move to hit them, but just as he raised his hand, Qiong Yu, who was fetching water from the river, saw him and stomped her foot, shouting, "What are you doing!"
Qiongyu ran over with a basin of water and stood between him and the little cutie: "Are you planning to throw the little cutie into the river again?"
Guo Sheng: "?"
That happened so long ago! Do you still remember?
"I..." He was furious, pointing in the direction of the little cutie, "Can't you control your dog properly! And that horse! It's one thing to freeload, but now it's blatantly robbing us!"
Qiongyu sneered: "Our family is the Princess's family, and the Princess's family is the Prince's family. What, Lord Guo, are you now setting up your own household and no longer working under the Prince?"
Guo Sheng: "You..."
Was that what he just said? Isn't this just being unreasonable?
He was about to say something more when Li Dou rushed over and stood in front of Qiongyu, saying, "You've bullied my wife again?"
Guo Sheng: "?"
Who's bullying whom?!
He felt a lump in his throat and almost choked, wishing he could fight Li Dou.
But before he could make a move, someone came up to him and said, "Sir, a few wealthy families are traveling together to Huai'an. They just happened to run into us and wanted to say hello to the Prince and Princess and see if they could travel together for the rest of the journey."
Guo Sheng raised an eyebrow: "You're here?"
Then she glared at Li Dou and said, "I'm not going to lower myself to your level, you spineless coward!"
After saying that, he turned and left.
Before Li Dou behind her could say anything, Qiong Yu became agitated and angrily said, "Who are you talking about?"
Li Dou quickly pulled him back and said in a good-natured tone, "It's okay, it's okay, don't mind him. He's just jealous that I'm married and have a wife, while he doesn't."
Guo Sheng: "..."
Chapter 129 Counterattack
Wei Hong's relocation of the capital to Huaicheng caught the major aristocratic families in the capital off guard, and also gave many other aristocratic families in other places an opportunity.
Although Huaicheng is wealthy and has a temporary palace built during the reign of Emperor Gaozong, there are not many aristocratic families here. If you seize the opportunity to move here in advance, it will be equivalent to living in the capital of Daliang!
In its earliest days, the capital was nothing special. Why did it develop into the prosperous city it is today? And why have the local aristocratic families achieved such great success? It's simply because they are located right under the emperor's nose!
The capital city will soon cease to be the capital city, and Huaicheng will become the new capital city. So whoever can establish themselves in Huaicheng at the first opportunity will be more likely to get better opportunities in the future!
Therefore, many families have recently moved to Huaicheng, including many prominent clans.
However, since Huaicheng was designated as the capital, various controls have become very strict, especially regarding household registration. Moving in is not an easy task and requires going through layers of review.
"There are so many of you, it's impossible for you all to stay in Huaicheng. Why don't you take advantage of the weather not being too cold yet and hurry back the way you came? Otherwise, if you want to leave in a few days, you'll be freezing on the road!"
Guo Sheng glanced at the moving team, which numbered in the hundreds, and spoke to the few family heads who stepped forward to greet Wei Hong and Yao Youqing.
One of them said, "Thank you for your concern, sir. But it's alright. If we can't stay in Huaicheng, it's good to stay in Qizhou, as long as it's close to Huaicheng."
"Yes, to be honest, my family is from Linzhou. We were almost caught in the crossfire of the war, and our home was trampled by the iron hooves of the Southern Yan. If it weren't for the Prince leading his troops to retreat in time, I'm afraid my whole family would have been wiped out!"
"Although we were lucky in the end and managed to save our lives and our family business, my father was so frightened that he fell ill and passed away a few days ago."
"Before he passed away, he heard that the prince planned to establish the capital in Huaicheng. He repeatedly urged us to move here as well, saying that what use is a fortune if a person is gone? It is better to move to a safe and peaceful place and live a peaceful life."
"So please, sir, don't send us away. I'm doing this... I'm also doing this to obey my father's dying wish!"
Wei Hong abandoned the capital and established the capital in Huaicheng, claiming it was in accordance with Emperor Gaozong's dying wish.
This person used the same reason as him, so it wouldn't be appropriate to kick them out again.
Guo Sheng gave an "oh" and scrutinized them for a moment: "If you insist, then I won't say anything. However, the Princess Consort is weak after giving birth and should not be exposed to the wind. She has been resting in the carriage and is probably not able to see you. The Prince is with her and is also busy. You don't need to come up to greet her. Let's continue on our way."
After saying that, he turned to leave.
"My lord, my lord!"
Someone called out to him from behind.
"We...we'll just pay our respects to the Prince and Princess from a distance, we won't get close, we'll just let them glance at us from inside the carriage!"
"Yes, yes, let's at least make an appearance in front of the prince and princess and leave an impression!"
Guo Sheng chuckled: "Don't make things difficult for me. The prince said he wouldn't see anyone. He hasn't even paid attention to the officials along the way. If I go to him and say something for your sake, he probably won't have a good impression of you. He'll think you bribed me. In the end, we'll end up pleasing no one."
The man who claimed to be from Linzhou was about to say something when his companion stopped him, gave him a wink, and then turned to Guo Sheng with a smile, saying, "Since that's the case, then forget it. However, since Your Highness and Princess are also going to Huaicheng, and we happen to be going the same way, would you mind if we traveled with you, sir?"
He took two steps forward and secretly stuffed a heavy purse into his hand: "Don't worry, sir, we'll just follow from a distance and won't bother you."
Guo Sheng weighed the purse in his hand, but did not agree immediately. Instead, he looked at the other people.
The group realized what was happening and quickly stuffed the purses into each other's pockets.
Guo Sheng stuffed all the purses into his sleeves, so much so that the sleeves drooped down, forcing him to stand with his arms crossed to hide them.
"Suit yourself. This road is wide, and the Prince didn't say anyone else couldn't walk on it. But remember not to get too close, or you'll disturb the Princess and anger the Prince, and you'll be in big trouble!"
"Yes, yes, sir, rest assured, we will not approach without the prince's permission!"
Guo Sheng nodded and went back with a purse stuffed with an unknown amount of silver in his sleeve.
...
In the following days, the relocation team of several hundred people followed behind Wei Hong's group. Although they did not get close to Wei Hong's carriage, they became familiar with the Jingyuan Army escorting them. However, the food and wine they brought were returned without exception and were not accepted.
A man in his thirties returned and sat down with several companions. He shook his head at them and said, "No, we won't accept it."
Someone frowned: "Not accepting wine and meat, this is a bit troublesome..."
"What's the problem?"
A young man in his early twenties standing nearby said, "Just stick close to them. We're all ordinary people. If we're attacked, they'll protect us. Otherwise, all that effort they put into building their reputation for loving the people would be wasted."
"That's true, but wouldn't it be easier to just knock them out first? That way, we'd be more confident in our actions."
"It would be best if we could knock him unconscious, but it doesn't matter if we can't. As long as we can get close to the King of Qin's chariot, with several hundred of us, are we afraid we can't kill him in the chaos?"
The young man said dismissively.
“Not only the King of Qin,” someone reminded him from the side, “but also his young heir. Remember to deal with him as well, otherwise even if he dies, his subordinates will support his son to ascend the throne and let the Queen of Qin rule from behind the curtain.”
It would certainly cause controversy to let a baby less than three months old ascend the throne, but the Queen Consort of Qin's reputation is now close to that of the King of Qin. In the eyes of the people, she is practically a living bodhisattva. Letting her rule from behind the curtain might actually suppress those criticisms.
"What crown prince?" the young man scoffed. "He has never petitioned the court for the title of crown prince, and the court has never granted it. What right does his child have to be called a crown prince?"
The elder beside him chuckled: "That's true, but the King of Qin hasn't even ascended the throne yet, and he dares to say something like moving the capital, and there are so many people who agree. So it's not surprising that his child is called the heir apparent."